The ZDNet video experiment

Okay. So, we've taped all sorts of video coverage here on ZDNet. My colleague Dan Farber has his CIO Vision series going and we're doing new whiteboard sessions all the time. Here's one I did I did on C.R.A.P. (a.k.a. DRM). But if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see dozens of other whiteboard videos that we've produced. But that's clearly not enough. Now, my fine friends in CNET's BroadBrand group (ZDNet is a CNET Networks property) have sent me Panasonic's incredibly awesome AG-HVX200 (DVCPRO-HD, DVCPRO-50, DVCPRO-cable) camera (pictured right) to try out some new video concepts. A lot of pros apparently like this camera for its HD capability but we won't be using it for that. What we'll be taking big advantage of are it's great optics and its built in PCMCIA-storage slots. Instead of recording to tape, you can record directly to a special PCMCIA storage card instead. Today, Panasonic offers the cards in two capacities: 4 and 8 GB. At the lower non-HD resolutions, the card holds about 4 minutes of video per gig. Not much, but that's good because it will force me into keeping things tight. I've already done one prototype video (comparing the portability of CDs and cassettes to digital music) and pumped it across the country where the folks in our West coast offices have done a bit of editing. Check it out and let me know what you think. I'll be using the camera here in the home office and on-location at events.

Finally, this camera does more things that I can possibly imagine but the user manual stinks. It basically tells you what all the buttons do, but not why you'd want to do those things (kind of useless if you ask me). So, if you know anything about this camera or have any cool tips or tricks (like how to edit the MXF files it puts out without saving the output to a different format), or have an idea for what the best accessories, please let me know. Thanks!